Pala-isip

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer. MANILA, Philippines—In the aftermath of the massacre of 57 people, brother turned against brother in the Ampatuan clan as the family faced multiple murder charges and pondered whose head should roll, a court was told Wednesday. Afraid that he would be jailed, Zaldy Ampatuan was prepared to tag his younger brother Andal Ampatuan Jr. as the man responsible for the worst political violence in the nation’s history, said former househelp Lakmudin Saliao. Continuing his testimony before Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Saliao testified that lawyer Sigfrid Fortun advised Zaldy, then governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), not to admit anything and leave the matter to the lawyers. Last week, Saliao testified that Ampatuan Jr., the mayor of Datu Unsay town nicknamed Unsay, carried out the family decision to waylay on Nov. 23, 2009, a convoy of a political rival contesting the gubernatorial seat in Maguindanao in t...

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer . ====================== MANILA, Philippines – The military expressed surprise at how powerful weapons and thousands of bullets supposed to be kept in the government armory ended up virtually in the backyard of the Ampatuan clan. Wearing bulletproof vests, soldiers and police the other day dug up antitank weapons, assault rifles and machine guns from a vacant lot a few hundred meters from one of the houses of the Ampatuan family—a known political ally of President Macapagal-Arroyo—in Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao province. Some of the firearms and the boxes of ammunition bore the markings of “Department of National Defense Arsenal,” “PNP [Philippine National Police] Camp Crame,” police said. Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, former AFP chief of staff, said he was “aghast” at the find and said he would ask for a Senate investigation next week on who was responsible for giving such a huge arms cache presumably to the Ampatuans. “Only the military can have this weapon...

I found these photos from a friend of a friend. Warning, the following photos are not suitable for children. Make sure you protect your computer lest your vomit damages your keyboard. If you think this massacre is appalling, just remember that this is just one of the many types of massacres that happen in the Philippines. Things like this happens almost every week, we just don't hear about it. Here's the interview given by Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu describing what happened to his wife. "My wife's private parts were slashed four times, after which they fired a bullet into it. They speared both of her eyes, shot both her breasts, cut off her feet, fired into her mouth. I could not begin to describe the manner by which they treated her." Ready?

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer . ===================== (Editors note: This story appeared Thursday on the website of the Qatar-based Arab news organization Al-Jazeera) A man who says he was a witness to Monday’s massacre in the southern Philippines has told Al-Jazeera how he was ordered to kill members of a rival political clan—including women and children—and to make sure no evidence was left behind. The witness, who identified himself only as “Boy,” said he was among more than 100 armed men who held up a convoy of political campaigners and journalists before taking them to a remote mountainous area where they were then killed. Speaking to Al-Jazeera’s correspondent Marga Ortigas, “Boy” said the orders had come directly from Andal Ampatuan Jr., a local mayor and a member of a politically powerful clan with close ties to the Philippines president. “Datu Andal himself said, he said to us: Anyone from the Mangudadatu clan—women or children—should be killed … We don’t ask why, we just...

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer . ==================== MANILA, Philippines—Energy Undersecretary Datu Zamzamin L. Ampatuan has appealed to the public to respect the due process of the law as Andal Ampatuan Jr. has voluntarily submitted himself to the government. "This is the most important thing that happened today—that Ampatuan Jr. had submitted himself to a voluntary investigation," the Energy official said via phone. His second cousin, Ampatuan Jr., has already submitted himself to presidential adviser Jesus Dureza in General Santos City Thursday. "From the understanding of the Ampatuan family, this (submission) is voluntary, just to clarify the allegations on (Ampatuan Jr.'s) participation. We're still not sure, not clear on what the Department of Justice will do. The lawyers are already discussing how they're going to handle this situation," Zamzamin Ampatuan explained. The energy official said he could not provide more details. "The most im...